“Most of the houses on the northern end of Settlement
Point were filled with waist-deep water yesterday,” he said. “Even now on low tide there is still a lot of water.”

Mr Hitchins said many long-time locals believed this
to be the worst flooding they’d seen in the area.

Meanwhile, road closures and minor flooding affected a
number of businesses in low-lying parts of the CBD.

On Saturday evening stores on Clarence and Short Street
shut-up shop, and power outages made it tough for those who decided to stay
open.

Almost 200 of people passed through the local
evacuation centre at Port Macquarie Panthers. Among them, was 67-year-old Doug Bolar from Rollands
Plains.

With nothing but the boots on his feet, shirt on his
back and a spare pair of jeans in his car, he was waiting to get back to his
property. But despite having to resort to sleeping in the back
of his four-wheel drive, Mr Bolar remained positive.

“I just think if I’m copping it, everyone else is
copping it too,” he said. “What can you do – this is just a part of living in Australia.”

It is the second time wild weather has struck the
region, in just one month.

State Emergency Service Deputy Controller Rescue
Michael Ward said conditions were
improving slowly, but water was not subsiding as quickly as expected.

“I've been here in town for seven years, and it's the
largest event we've seen yet,” Mr Ward said.

River levels from the weekend are the first to have
come close to the flood records of 1978. SES volunteers took part in eight flood rescues and
attended some 200 other call outs. The majority of jobs received were for
fallen trees and sandbags.

Three flood rescues were for cattle and five were
serious evacuations of North
Shore residents who left
it too late to leave their homes.

“A mammoth effort has been put in by the members of
the Port Macquarie-Hastings SES this weekend,” Mr Ward said. “With assistance from local RFS crews and many other
organisations, we have managed to minimise the damaging effect from the weather
received across the area,” he said yesterday afternoon.

Click on the image above to see more photos from Port Macquarie's North Shore